14 April 2008 The Best Free Games Around

JUNGNow one thing that can lead to violence of an extreme nature is being forced to hand over large slabs of hard to come by cash for a game... but fret no more gamers - help is at hand.

BAJOThere are actually quite a lot of games out there - hundreds of them even - that don't cost you a cent to play - and quite a few of them are just as good as a game you might pay top dollar for in a shop. Of course, many of them are also much worse, so how do you know what to download and what to avoid?

JUNGWell, we've taken the guessing out of it by putting together a list of the top-five gratis games.

BAJOFirst up is Trackmania Nations.

BAJOFor the 2006 E-Sports World Cup, Trackmania developers Nadeo released a special version of their stunt-jumping, track-buildng racing series - for zero dollars down.

JUNGTrackmania Nations gives you almost a hundred pre-made tracks in three different difficulty levels, as well as online play, and it even lets you create your own circuits in the game's build mode - which means that the game's longevity is really only limited by your own imagination.

BAJOAnd besides all that, the Trackmania series has always been one of the most fun PC racing games anyway, so getting a complete professional-quality game for nothing is a big plus.

JUNGNext on our list of fun freebies is Warsow - and it's one of the best free first-person shooters around. It takes it's inspiration from games like Quake II and Unreal Tournament, although Warsow differenciates itself speciality is trickjumping.

BAJOThere's a lot of complexity here isn't there. You can wall-jump to get across long gaps, bunny-hop to build up more speed and of course rocket-jump to reach high areas. The weapons are varied and intersting, and the cartoon-style cel-shaded graphics are really stylish as well.

JUNGAny free game that attempts to better Quake at trickjumping, and succeeds, is going to amass a huge competitive scene pretty much immediately - and that's just what's happened with Warsow. There's already strong community support for it, and a few e-sports leagues have even accepted it as a competition title - a big achievement for a free game.

BAJONext up, is one that we know a lot of Good Game viewers are familiar with - a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG called Runescape. Now, it's no secret that Runscape is ugly. Graphically this game looks like a dog's breakfast - and not one of those gourmet breakfasts either - but if you take the time to settle into this online fantasy world, and look past its primitive visuals, you'll find a deep and immersive game with a dedicated community of players.

JUNGAfter you've created your low-polygon adventurer, you can embark on a quest to slay orcs, hoard treasure and fish for shrimp - among many other tradition role-playing activities - all without laying down any of your own precious gold pieces.

BAJOThe servers are always heavily populated and it even has three Australian-based dedicated servers - which is a lot better than a few commercial MMOs we could mention.

JUNGThe next game in our fab freeware five is War Rock. If you like first-person shooters like Counter Strike and Battlefield 2, you'll get right into this - because it's basically a hybrid of those two games.

BAJOThere are quite a few similarities aren't there - like the three different game modes. First there's Close Combat - where you have to set or defuse bombs whilst trading fire with an opposing team. It's very reminiscent of CounterStrike, and more importantly - it's fun.The other two - Urban Combat and Battle Group - are a lot more like Battlefield 2. You're given a choice between five different classes and dropped into a warzone, complete with controllable jeeps, tanks and aircraft.

JUNGGraphically it looks a little dated, but shooting action is top-notch, so we can't complain too much. There is one thing that did annoy me though, and that was that there were no dedicated servers. Finding Australian-hosted matches is pretty rare - and as a result, the pings weren't ideal. Despite that, though, War Rock is still one of the most professional freebie games around, and if it manages to establish a local scene, those lag problems should be smoothed right out.

BAJONow Jung, it's time for the final game on our list of top five free games - and it's Frets on Fire! Now, you know I love me some Guitar Hero Jung... but I also like not paying for things - and that's what's good about Frets on Fire - because it's the next best thing to Guitar Hero, and it's free.

JUNGIt certainly looks like Guitar Hero, in a kind of low-budget way, and its gameplay is a very close match as well. The coloured fret button indicators still come at you down a note highway, and although it's nowhere near as polished as Activision's main earner, it's still a lot of fun - and it even has the option to add your own songs into the game, which is something that Guitar Hero doesn't do - and probably never will.

BAJOIf you've already got Guitar Hero on the Xbox 360, and have the wired USB guitar controller, you can actually plug it into your PC and play with it for a more authentic experience - although it can also be played with a generic PC keyboard and a little imagination. It is a bit disappointing that Frets on Fire doesn't utilise a whammy bar or star power like Guitar Hero - but then again, the price is right.

JUNGSo the next time you've got an empty wallet but still feel like playing something new, don't give up hope - there's plenty of free games out there that are well worth your time.

BAJOIt is worth noting though that some of these free games are made possible by the use of advertising - Runscape and Trackmania in particular - but if that doesn't bother you, a quick internet search will find you at their respective official websites - and while you're online why not drop in on the Good Game forums and let us know if you've found any other free games that we should play.